Accra: Mr. Dapo Olorunyomi, Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), has called for a rethinking of journalism practice in West Africa to meet the demands of the digital era. Addressing the inaugural CJID Ghana Media Summit in Accra, Mr. Olorunyomi emphasized the primary purpose of journalism as building effective and accountable democracies, a mandate enshrined in constitutional and international legal frameworks across the sub-region.
According to Ghana News Agency, Mr. Olorunyomi noted that while the democratic mission of journalism remained unchanged, society had entered a digital age in which the assumptions and practices of the industrial era could no longer adequately guide the profession. The summit, themed 'Defending Democracy in West Africa: The Role of Media,' marked seven years of DUBAWA Ghana's efforts in strengthening information integrity and provided a platform to chart the next phase of media development in the region.
The event convened journalists, editors, civil society leaders, academics, media development practitioners, and regional policymakers to discuss the future of media and democracy in West Africa. Mr. Olorunyomi proposed a shift from traditional media development, centered largely on individual news organizations, to building democratic information infrastructure capable of safeguarding information integrity and public trust.
He identified information integrity in the age of artificial intelligence, platform governance, media sustainability, trust in democracy, journalist safety, civic information, regional integration, and skills transformation as strategic domains requiring urgent attention. Mr. Olorunyomi cautioned that no country acting alone could effectively regulate the influence of global technology platforms, and he urged greater regional cooperation to promote digital sovereignty, platform accountability, and equitable revenue sharing.
Mr. Olorunyomi called for the training of a new generation of journalists and newsroom leaders equipped with skills in open-source intelligence, data journalism, coding, audience analytics, and the ethical use of AI. Professor Umaru Pate, Chair of the CJID Board, stated that the organization had anticipated many of the existential challenges confronting the media, including those arising from digital technologies, artificial intelligence, funding constraints, safety concerns, and declining public trust.
Prof. Pate emphasized that journalism and credible information would remain indispensable despite rapid technological change, adding that fact-checking and information integrity were essential to democratic survival. He highlighted CJID's work in climate reporting, electoral integrity, extractive-sector accountability, human rights reporting, and media information literacy, noting that the organization's presence in Ghana over the past seven years had yielded fruitful partnerships and tangible impact.
Mr. Akintunde Babatunde, Executive Director of CJID, warned that democratic backsliding in West Africa was being driven by a 'doom loop' of weak institutions, fragile media systems, disinformation, declining trust, military intervention, and media repression. He identified foreign information manipulation, generative AI, and shrinking funding for independent media as major accelerants of the crisis, and outlined CJID's strategic priorities for the coming years.
These priorities include expanding the West Africa Fact-Checking Network, nurturing the next generation of journalists through campus programs and mentorship, strengthening media sustainability, deepening climate and environmental journalism, and establishing regional open-source intelligence and AI capabilities, with Ghana serving as a training hub. Mr. Babatunde also expressed the vision of positioning Ghana as a regional powerhouse for democratic resilience and institutionalizing the Ghana Media Summit as a recurring platform for dialogue and collaboration.
CJID, a pan-African media development organization operating in 13 countries, established DUBAWA Ghana in 2020 and has partnered with journalists, media houses, civil society organizations, academia, regulators, and development partners to advance fact-checking, media literacy, newsroom capacity, and democratic accountability.